Kenya’s Top Buyer of Banks Is Now Looking Ahead to Profits

Kenya’s Top Buyer of Banks Is Now Looking Ahead to Profits

NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – SBM Holdings Ltd., the Mauritius lender that bought two Kenyan banks within months of each other, expects the combined operations to make a profit within a year. The second-biggest lender in the Indian Ocean island-nation is expanding in East Africa’s largest economy to use it as a hub for the rest of the region as part of a broader strategy funded by debt to add assets in its home…

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After Wild Ride, Iron Ore Becalmed as Citi Warns on Outlook

After Wild Ride, Iron Ore Becalmed as Citi Warns on Outlook

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – $60s may just persist for a while longer. Citigroup Inc. expects prices will probably hold in that range through to the third quarter, while cautioning the raw material may trend lower longer term as scrap usage rises and steel demand weakens in China. The commodity will average $65 a ton this year, before easing to $60 in 2019, according to commodities strategist Tracy Liao. That compares with a year-to-date average…

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OPEC, Allies Are Said to Mull New Ways to Measure Oil Stockpiles

OPEC, Allies Are Said to Mull New Ways to Measure Oil Stockpiles

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) OPEC and allied oil producers including Russia are discussing new ways of measuring global crude stockpiles, signalling a possible decision that could affect production cuts they’re making to ease a global glut. The oil market should re-balance in the second quarter due to improved compliance by producers with their pledged cuts and to summer demand for crude and refined products, according to people with knowledge of talks between OPEC and…

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Threat of Cobalt Shock Is a Top Risk for Electric Vehicles

Threat of Cobalt Shock Is a Top Risk for Electric Vehicles

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – A burgeoning risk of a supply crunch in cobalt — a key battery metal that’s more than tripled in price in two years — poses one of the biggest threats to forecasts for rising electric vehicle adoption. Major investment in mines is required to avoid price spikes that could see cost reductions for lithium-ion batteries stall, Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysts said Monday in a report. Shortages of cobalt are likely earlier than…

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Libya’s Oil Output Is Said to Wilt as Hot Weather Halts Turbines

Libya’s Oil Output Is Said to Wilt as Hot Weather Halts Turbines

TRIPOLI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Libya’s crude production tumbled by at least 120,000 barrels a day after some oil-field equipment stopped operating due to hot weather, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Output at the Libyan Arabian Gulf Oil Co., known as Agoco, dropped to about 145,000 barrels a day on Tuesday from about 260,000, the person said, asking not to be identified for lack of authority to speak to…

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MTN Is Said to Start $754 Million Ghana Unit IPO Next Week

MTN Is Said to Start $754 Million Ghana Unit IPO Next Week

ACCRA (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. will start selling more than a third of its Ghanaian unit for $754 million next week in an initial public offering that will be 10 times larger than the West African nation’s previous biggest-ever share sale, according to a person familiar with the matter. The offer to raise 3.48 billion cedis of stock will start May 29 and close at the end of July, said the person, asking not…

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Mozambique Backs Constitution Changes That May Boost Peace Deal

Mozambique Backs Constitution Changes That May Boost Peace Deal

MAPUTO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Mozambican lawmakers approved constitutional changes that give political parties more power in the provinces, a step that may support a peace deal cast into doubt by the death of the main opposition leader. President Filipe Nyusi signed an open-ended truce in 2016 with the Mozambican National Resistance, or Renamo, whose leader, Afonso Dhlakama, died on May 3. Renamo’s armed wing fought the government in a 16-year civil war that claimed as many…

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